The next morning Hanna cycled around and around the elliptical trainer at Body Tonic, the upscale gym she'd been attending since the end of eighth grade. Each machine had a built-in TV with a zillion cable channels, a juice bar and spa stood next to the check-in desk, and the locker rooms boasted a eucalyptus steam room, a whirlpool bath, and Kiehl's products in all of the showers. All around her, fit men, women, and the occasional student from one of the many elite private schools in the area jogged on treadmills, pedaled on recumbent bikes, or did slightly vulgar-looking squats on exercise balls. A yoga class was taking place in the exercise room at the back, and at that very moment, the class was attempting the half-moon pose, their bodies making T shapes, their legs wobbling.
Sweat was in Hanna's eyes, her arms and legs burned, and she'd just seen an upsetting newscast on TV that mentioned Ian Thomas was proclaiming his innocence from behind bars. But she couldn't stop exercising now. There was no way she would remain a size six. She wouldn't let a salesgirl snicker at her ever again.
Her phone buzzed and she reached for it eagerly, checking once more to see if Lucas had called, texted, posted on Facebook, anything, but it was just Aria, asking to borrow Hanna's notes from English.
Hanna's chest felt tight. It made her feel unbelievably lame, but she missed Lucas—and it didn't seem like he missed her at all. She threw her phone back into the little plastic cup on the machine intended for water bottles, and cranked up the resistance another few levels. It didn't matter. She'd lose ten pounds, look fabulous again, and withhold all affection when Lucas returned.
Then again, she thought, what if Lucas didn't even care about her when he got home? What if he'd decided to ditch her for Princess Puke-a-tan?
"You're really going for it, huh?"
Hanna jumped, looked down, and a saw a buff guy in a tight Body Tonic T-shirt, long mesh shorts, and gray New Balance sneakers standing next to her machine. He had the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, close-cropped dark hair, and gorgeous skin, and his muscles bulged without looking too bodybuilderish. Hanna recognized him instantly—when she and Mona used to come to Body Tonic together, they'd nicknamed him Apollo, for obvious reasons. He prowled around the exercise room, grinning at girls, occasionally lifting a weight or doing a stomach crunch, and training all of the super-rich Main Line female clientele. But the clincher was when they'd caught him sitting in his car in the parking lot, rocking out to "Stairway to Heaven," pretending the steering wheel was a drum kit. Apollo was a reformed dork, just like Hanna and Mona were.
Hanna glanced behind her to see if Apollo was speaking to someone else, but she was the only person on this row of elliptical trainers. "Uh, pardon?" she wished she'd brought a hand towel to mop off her face.
Apollo grinned and gestured to the LCD readout on Hanna's machine. "You've been working out for eighty minutes. That's intense."
"Oh." Hanna kept pedaling. "I'm trying to get back into shape. I've been to a few too many holiday parties." She laughed self-consciously, then cursed herself for drawing attention to her Christmas-cookie bubble butt.
"The holidays can be tough." Apollo leaned on the machine next to hers. "I'm leading a fitness retreat that starts today designed specifically to get people through the holidays. It focuses on exercise, nutrition, and mental wellness."
"Sounds awesome," Hanna said. Kirsten Cullen, a girl she knew at Rosewood Day, had gone on a fitness retreat in St. Barts the summer ninth and tenth grades and had returned twelve pounds lighter and with the most flawless skin ever. "A retreat to where?"
"Oh, to nowhere." Apollo shot her a sheepish smile. "We hold it here at the gym. But you'll feel transported—and amazing by the time it's done. Would you be interested in signing up?"
Hanna gazed at her sweaty reflection in the mirror in front of her. "I don't know." She wasn't really into group classes.
Apollo gave her a dazzling smile. "Are you sure? I think you'd find it really, really amazing. It's Hanna, right?"
Hanna's jaw dropped. "How did you know that?"
"I've seen you here before." This time when he smiled, he revealed two adorable dimples. "I'd love to have you in the class."
Her insides tingled. Was he flirting with her? For a split second, she couldn't wait to hop off the machine, call Mona, and tell her that Apollo from Body Tonic was practically begging her to be part of his fitness retreat—until she remembered, yet again. Every time she realized Mona had been A, and that she was dead now, it felt like someone had chucked a medicine ball at her chest.
"The pounds will melt off you," Apollo promised. "You'll be in the most amazing shape of our life. Please say you'll do it."
Since he put it that way, how could she say no? His sparkling blue eyes didn't hurt, either. "Okay, you've twisted my arm," she said, pausing the machine. "Count me in."
"Awesome." Apollo grinned again. Just being next to him made her tingle all over. And he had noticed her. He knew her name. All thoughts of Lucas and Puke-a-tan Brooke flew out of her head. If Lucas could flirt, then so could she.
"My name's Vince," he added. "The class starts at five today, and we'll be meeting morning and night through the end of the year. I'm so thrilled you're going to do this, Hanna."
"I'm thrilled, too," Hanna answered, looking deeply into Apollo's—Vince's—eyes. And she absolutely, positively meant it.